The EMP Museum

Seattle, USA

EMP is a vibrant and cutting edge museum dedicated to celebrating the ideas and adventurous nature of contemporary popular culture. Housed within a futuristic structure that evokes the energetic and fluid spirit of rock 'n' roll, the museum aims to enthral multigenerational audiences with its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs.

Amongst the entertaining exhibitions is the Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction, which is packed with more than 150 artefacts from iconic films and imaginative television shows. Visitors can step inside a gigantic, mysterious alien spacecraft and experience the incredible range of storytelling in science fiction, discover new alien civilisations, or scout for new worlds to explore from the cockpit of the spaceship.

UFO were approached by EMP and asked to supply a fibre optic lighting system for the exhibition's many display cabinets. It was important that the system incorporated a level of flexibility that would allow the museum staff to adjust the height and angle of the lights, and could be supplied within an extremely short time frame.

Our Rod & Clamp system offered all of the configurability that EMP needed and so was installed in the corners of each display case. The rods were custom made to suit the specific height of the cabinets and were mounted on top of the cabinet floors using our mounting feet.

UFO clear focusing lenses were applied to the clamps before being attached to the individual rods. Once installed, tails of our end lit glass fibre were fed through the floor of the display cabinets and up to the rods, where each tail was securely connected to a UFO lens. EMP staff could then alter the height and angle of the lenses to ensure that they were illuminating the artefacts correctly.

Fourteen of our Mercury Slimline LED light sources were used to power the fibre optics and were stored in easily accessible locations out of view of the displays. The Mercury Slimline was favoured for the high CRI output and colour temperature options that it offers.

UFO was able to stick to EMP's tight time frame by manufacturing all of the components, many of which were customised for this particular project, within six days.

Images courtesy of Brady Harvey | EMP Museum